BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. — Leaders in Baldwin County will break ground on their new health department facility Friday morning.
You might remember they decided to look for a new home back in Jan. 2018 after Gov. Nathan Deal approved a transfer of 5.7 acres of land.
The previous building was built in 1904 and needed frequent repairs.
The new location is closer to Navicent Baldwin, with hopes it will better serve the community.
“It’s going to be great for us. We, basically in our old health department, are kind of crammed into a few rooms,” said environmental health county manager Colin Duke.
“Larger. Our exam rooms will be larger, we will have more exam rooms," said Carey Dyer, the nurse manager at the Baldwin County Health Department.
The health department is breaking ground on a new 13,000-square-foot center.
“We realized our current facility was aging and somewhat dated, and was in serious need of renovations and repair," said development director Morris Hutcheson
The current offices were built back in 1904. As for one of the reasons why they’re building new ones along North Glynn Street near the YDC?
“We were fortunate to be able to work with the state property commission and Department of Juvenile Justice. They deeded this property over to Baldwin County," said Hutcheson.
The few offices will cost $2.6 million with $200,000 in SPLOST money and the Baldwin County Health Department paying the bill.
“We will be building in a telemedicine clinic, which we are excited about. We will be able to partner with other providers and our HIV clinic in Macon”
Development director Morris Hutcheson says the new site will house a WIC office, education kitchen and house the environmental health clinic.
“We are going to have a place where we can set up for our brochures, plaques and things of that nature, so it is going to a whole lot more professional and a whole lot more room, a whole lot nicer facility than what we are in," said Duke.
Construction officially starts next Monday and we expect the project to finish in 10 months to a year.
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